Monday, December 21, 2009

A trip to the Holy Land! Check this out!

http://biblecontest.newlivingtranslation.com

This is the story about the effect that reading the New Living Translation had and still has on my life.

When God first gave me the urge to read His word, I tried to read the KJV, but couldn't understand it. I tried the same thing with the NKJV, but the reading level was just too complicated for me. I came across my NLT which is the complete reference bible version from tyndale. It really made the Bible come alive to me in ways that just amazed me. I started to hear God speak to me through His word, and it was through the reading of the word at this time that the Lord called me into the ministry. I had received my calling many years ago, (age 14), but decided to run from that calling because I looked at my current Pastor and thought, "There is no way I could be like that." I didn't realize that God didn't want me to be my Pastor... He wanted me to be His servant. I ran away from Him, got into drugs and Meth, and practiced Wiccan. Well, as time went by I got married and had our first child, (Caine), and realized I didn't know how to be a father (wasn't raised with mine), but I do remember the Bible and how God was called a Father... maybe He can show me how. Back to the NLT... I was enjoying my reading time and felt that calling on my life again reading my favorite version,(NLT), and started looking for confirmation. Not only was the Lord calling us into the ministry, but also the missions field. My wife and I started attending Calvary Chapel Carroll County for the next eight years. During this time I got licensed and ordained as a Pastor. We do teach from the NKJV from the pulpit, but I use the NLT as my trusty secondary version to help me understand troubling passages. My wife, three children and I are getting ready to go to Vajta, Hungary for missions training at Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe and at this very moment I am getting that original NLT that I first had in the beginning rebound to go with us. (By the way... that very bible has been to Niceragua with me on missions as well.) NLT... Don't leave home without it.

God Bless,
Aaron Green

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Mormonism (LDS) - Polygamy

This is the teaching that Mormons are typically identified with. The early polygamous believers claimed that Jesus himself was a polygamist. This has not been officially disavowed, it is just considered moot and a non-issue.The LDS teaches that man cannot reach the highest level of heaven (exaltation) without having a wife and exaltation can only come to a man and his wife. Marriage ceremonies held outside of the temple are considered 'until death do you part'. Marriage ceremonies held in the temple performed by the appropriate authority are deemed eternal. What is baffling about the doctrine of polygamy is the church's official stance on it.On the one hand, the practice of Polygamy was banned from LDS doctrine in 1890 by the prophet Wilford Woodruff. The official church stance since that time is that polygamists are excommunicated. Yet LDS apologists will tell you that, again, this is just a misunderstood directive from the prophet Woodruff. The bottom line is that Polygamy is a doctrine included in the doctrine of eternal marriage. It was presented to the Church in conference in 1852 and canonized as scripture. It still is a viable doctrine and part of scripture but not a current practice among living spouses.